lenenatemienmmenatiiedital . eoatoee

Trees have always been an emotional
subject for West Vancouverites and the
capacity audience which crowded the
council chamber last Monday to protest

removal of the chestnut trees on 17th Street
ran true to form.

The majority attending the public meeting |

had little sympathy for municipal arguments
in favor of pulling down the 47-year-old trees
and replacing them with smaller ones,
although some of those arguments may
presently be valid.

Falling leaves are clearly a front-yard
nuisance for some 17th Street residents.
There have been complaints about people
tripping over chestnuts. The overhanging
bratiches hamper buses and large trucks
(though surely some skilled pruning could
solve THAT?) The claim that the roots will
break up sidewalks may have more to do
with the quality of the latter than with the
roots themselves.

In the end, however, the issue boils down
to values versus expediency. The 17th Street
chestnut trees are unquestionably one of the
most magnificent avenues of urban foliage in
the Lower Mainland. Aside from their
beauty, they are also an integral part of West
Van's history. For some of the Boy Scouts
who planted them in 1935, and later fell in
World War Two, they stand as a prond and
living memorial. West Van has not yet ac-
cumulated enough in the way of a com-
munity heritage to destroy such an attractive
part of that which it possesses to date.

« We helieve the trees should stay — and
that a few thousand dollars worth of im-
proved maintenance by the municipality can
overcome most of the alleged problems. If
council listens to the voice of the people, we
think it must agree.

Veil threat?

When Simon Fraser stadents demand the
withdrawal of Playboy and Penthouse from
campus libraries and bookstands, it’s clear
the sexual backlash against the permissive
sixties and seventies is peaking. That's finc,
just so long as we don’t go quite as far as the
ayatollah — who's put Iran’s once-liberated
ladies back into black hoods and cloaks!

sunday

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VERSA D CIRCULATION 593 985 Wednesday 53.484 Sunday

sm G&G

THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE

By W. ROGER WORTH

Canadians are going
through a tough period.
Yet life could be a lot
worse. For once, let’s
consider some of the
positive elements.

Canadians are among the
wealthiest people in the

is still envied

fishermen, we do not have to
fear shortages, as long as we
allow them to eari¥a profit.
While there is a very real
possibility that people in
other countries might freeze
in the. dark because they lack
energy, we can afford to
export the commodity.’ In
the short run, we may be
short of oil, but we have
abundant forms of other

Mainstream Canada

world on a per capita basis.
The value of our proven
resource and energy wealth
alone could make us real
winners, given realistic
economic policies and a
little more co-operation be-
tween the various levels of
government. Compared to
resource poor countries such
as Japan, we are filthy rich.

The lifestyle and standard
of living of the average
Canadian is perhaps without
equal in the world. While we
get bogged down in ad-
mittedly important issues
like moftgage’_ rates,
economic growth, and a
devastating federal budget,
we tend to forget our crime
rate is relatively low, that we
have few racial problems,
and that we have freeedoms
that people in many other
countries are still fighting to
obtain.

Canadians’ food bills are
among the lowest in the
world and, thanks to our
hard pressed farmers and

A SINGLE-COURSE MENU
this weekend, dear readers,
with interesting food for
thought. Especially in West
Van, though the’ con-
notations apply .to other
communitics which valuc
their past.

For 26 ycars, Hank and
Shirley Sager and their
family have been Icading
westerm retailers of quality
imported furniture, an
operation they dreamed up
in their Caulfcild cottage
during the mid-fiftics and
launched on a_e $1,500
shocstring But that's not the
item

Much of them success hes
in the unique premises they
developed for their business

a dehghtful, rambling
complea of histonc West
Van buildings which, with
infinite good taste, they
consolidated into Duna
darave's “Maple Shop”

ts heart ts the 75-year-old
one time West Van com.
munity centre, later a local
nightspot calicd “The Palms”
and still tater the West Van
Presbyterian charch.
Retween the two wars Misa
Hunter's Tea Room was built
ncat door Ht eventually
became Mrs. Van Laven's
{and then Mn. Taylor's)

6

energy. And even though
our fuel costs are rising, they
are still the lowest in the
world.

We have a social welfare
system that at least ensures
no Canadian will starve, or
be forced to sleep in the
streets. Some may not get as
much as they want, but the
poor among us are certainly
supported.

Education is less costly in
Canada than it is in most
other countries.

With all its problems, we
have a support system that
ensures Canadians get
medical help when it is
needed, no matter their
place on the economic scale.

There’s no question the
economy is in bad shape, but
we shouldn't forget that
people in other countries
envy our position.

(Roger Worth is a feature
writer for the Canadian
Federation of Independent
Business.)

Beware...

By HEDDY ANDERSEN
Beware! that everything in The moment will be your
life own,
@ndoubtedly kas a price. When Lady Lack leaves you
A fleeting moment of and you fall,
happiness Bat rise from where you are
Is sorrow in ’ thrown.
For every smile a tear must if you can take the storm in
fall stride
Sometimes beyond repair: Aue
A litle moment of
Can end in deep despair. By locking em sgmarety i
Though always, you'll be ‘Thee lap will be al your
standing tall. sorrows.

(Heddy Andersen is a North Vancouver poet whose first
book of verse, “A Labyrinth of Thoughts,” was published this
spring.)

sunday brunch

by Noel Wright

antique shop. and finally
Hank and Shirley's original
showroom.

Came the sixties. The
Presbyterians moved to their
new home at 29th and
Marinc, and the Sager
acquired the vacated church
which they painstakingly
restored and “marricd” to its
neighbor to create the
present composite building.
Its meandcring, multi-icvel
imtenor contains more of
West Van's 70-ycar history
and memones than can be
found anywhere clse in the
municipality

BUT HOW MUCH
LONGER? That's the
qucshon now The imported
furniture business = is
becoming no longer viablc,
says Hank, what with a 78

WEST VAN HERITAGE .
keoep ht?

cent dollar, usurious interest
rates and killing taxes. So
the Sagers plan to close it
down. They've already had a
tempting offer for the
property and could retire
comfortably on the proceeds
— if they were that kind of
people.

The snag for Hank and
Shiricy 1s that a new owner.

dcvcloper would almost
certainly bulldoze = the
venerable building and

replace it with a plate-giass-
and-cedar box. Within hours
& monument of West Van's
heritage would vanish into
rubbic.

The only alternative, as
Hank sces it. is to use the
building for a healthicr type
of business than quality
Amcrican furniture bought
with US dollars rented

--- Will the neighbors vote to

from the bank at 20 per cent.
But because of the unigue
intenor layout the options
arc cxtremecly fimited. In
fact, only one seems really
practical ....

BACK TO THE PAST ss
Hank's solution. That's why.
fast week, he presented to

council his imaginative

neighborhood pub licence
for a separate section of the
building — and with the old
church portion § cvcntually
re-dedicated to community
usc. In short, a truc (and
economically viable)
acighborhood social centre.
as it was in the beginning.

Hurdles tic abcad. First.
the Liquor Control Board's
blessing. But the deciding
factor will be the plebiscite
of restdcats within a half
mile radius. “If the acigh
bors don'l want to keep it.”
says Hank. “then | won’
want to, cither ~

This me. the acighbon
won't be voting mercty for o:
against a pub on a drawing
board, to be run by a
stranger They'll be deciding
whether (o retain — of bose
for ever — an ineplaccabic
treasure house of West Van's
past. lovingly preserved for
over'a quarter of a century
by two of themscivcs

If herstage means
anything, onc hopes thcy1l
Rive ita lot of thought